Metallic railway crosstie



Oct. 30 1923.

J. A. HYLE METALLIC RAILWAY CROS'STIE Filed Oct. 11. 1922 in; attouwg Patented @ct. 30, I923.

JACOB A. HYLE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOB TO TBI-CITYSTEEL- COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

METALLIC RAILWAY cn'ossrrni Application filed October 11, 1922. Serial No. 593,748.'

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JACOB A. HYLE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Metallic Railway Crossties, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved and novel metallic railway cross tie especially adapted to be employed in connection with the road beds of steam and electric railways.

The prime object of the invention is to provide an economical, simple, safe, durable,

reliable and efficient railway cross tie,

possessing the requisite strength to withstand all of the strains to which such ties are usually subjected when in use, and which is so constructed as to materially increase the longevity of the same.

Another object of this invention is to furnish a metallic cross tie of a few parts in connection with wooden blocks, said blocks forming a resilient support for the track rails, and at the same time creating a reliable insulation of the rails so that said track rails will reliably serve as efficient conductors in connection with the usual automatic railway electrical signaling systems.

Further objects of the invention are to so construct the metallic tie and wooden blocks, that the blocks may be readily and quickly removed and new blocks inserted or re placed by a single employee and Without removing the tie, or in any manner disturbing the position of the track rail or road ballast beneath the tie; to safely and securely fasten the wooden blocks upon the upper face of the base portion of the tie, withthe outer upright face of each block in contact with the inner face of and between the upright sides of the metallic tie, said block or blocks extending a suitable distance above the top of said metallic tie; to so secure the tie members that a drainage opening will be formed through the entire length of the tie and into the road bed, said opening also serving to secure the tie within the road bed by the road ballast which will accumulate and become wedged within said opening; to provide means at each end of the tie, forming a part of said tie, adapted to prevent sidewise, endwise and skidding action of the metallic tie, and to provide means for so tightly clamping the wooden block or construction may be resorted to without blocks between the upright members of the tie as to compress the fibres of the wooden blocks to such an extent as to prevent splitting of the block when the track rail securing spikes are driven therein and at the same time prevent any vibratory or swinging movement of the wooden blocks when they shall have been fixedly secured tov the said metallic tie. K

The foregoing and such other objects as may appear from the ensuing description are accomplished by the construction, arrangement, assembling, combination and location of the parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in, the accompanying drawings and particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto, it being understood that slightchanges in the precise form, proportions and minor details of the departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings which form a part of the specification it will be seen that Figure 1 is a perspective view of the novel railway cross tie embodying my invention.

Figure 2 is an enlarged plan view of the same, and v V,

Figure 3 is an end elevation of the metallic tie with the wooden blocks secured thereto.

Similar numerals of reference are em ployed to designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

In the embodiment of myinvention as illustrated, I provide a railway cross tie of suitable or desirable dimensions throughout its length and breadth, which may be made of any suitable metallic material, be ing preferably formed of two pieces or members, each member being made from the standard L or right'angle shaped sections of steel which are now universally used, 100 each piece or member consisting of a fiat inwardly and laterally extended base portion 1, and an integral vertical outer member 2, said outer members forming the outer upright walls of the tie, said vertical mem- 105 here 2, extending the entire length of the tie, and each of said members beingcut away on an incline from the point'8, at each end of thetie to a point 4; at or near the outer end portion of the wooden block.

It will be seen that the track rails 5 are seated and rest upon the upper surface of a suitable metallic plate 6 seated upon the upper surface of the hard wood block or blocks 7, said block or blocks being clamped between the upright members 2. near each end of the tie, each of said blocks being-formed with straight vertical faces, the lower surface of each block resting upon and in contact with the inner face of the base portion of the tie, while the upper portion of each block extends a suitable distance above the top edge of the upright members 2 of the tie in order to furnish safe and reliable insulation of the track rails from the cross tie. The size of the hardwood blocks is sutficiem: to furnish the requisite strength to sup port the track rails and retain the rail fastening means, such as spikes of the type usually employed in securing the tracl' rails to the ordinary wooden tie, said spikes be ing usually driven into the wooden blocks with the head portion of each spike overlapping and in contact with the upper surface of the base portion of the track rail.

The wooden blocks employed in this connection are inexpensive, since one block or a plurality of blocks of different degrees of width may be tightly clampedbetween the upright members 2, thereby permitting the use of the ends of logs; the well preserved portions of cast oif hardwood ties, and other small size pieces of wood which 'would ordinarily be classed as waste material, said wooden blocks being-first preferably impregnated or saturated with crude oil, creosote, or any other suitable or desirable preservative preparation or solution to increase their durability and longevity. The said blocks are each formed rectangular in cross-section and adapted to rest in contact with the base portion of the tie. V The fastening means employed for rigidly and securely clamping the wooden block or blocks to the body portion of the metallic tie and in contact with its base and the inner face of its upright members 2 consists of two headed bolts 8 possessing the requisite strength, screw-threaded at one end thereof and two securing nuts 9, one of said nuts being fitted to the screw-threaded end portion of each bolt, said fastening means being adapted to fixedly and firmly secure one or a plurality of blocks at the same time to the cross tie, one or a plurality of blocks being located near each end portion of the tie. Each securing bolt 8 is passed through an opening formed through the block or blocks within the tie and an opening formed in each upright member 2, so that when the securing nuts 9 are adjusted tightly against the outer surface of the said uprightmember,the fibres of thewooden blocks will become so compressed between the upright membersp2 as to prevent i will be readily understood,

In forming my metallic tie of two sections of angle plate steel it is important that the base portions be separated to form a suitable space between the two sections, said space forming a longitudinal opening 9 extending the entire length of the tie, thus forming a drainage for all moisture from the tie to the road bed beneath and thereby increasing the longevity of the metallic tie.

It will be seen that the upper portion of each of the upright members 2 is provided with a concaved recess or cut away portion 10 near each end of the tie, the major portion of said member being removed at the the same time serving to anchor the rails to resist any creeping tendency thereof when the rolling stock is travelling over the track rails. I

It is a well known fact with railway officials and others familiar with the trough shape construction of railway ties that when the ties are filled with road ballast, the continuous vibrating or bouncing up and down movement of the ties during the rapid passage of the rolling stock over the track rails, especially when the ties are not solidly tamped, causes the ballast to be pitched or tossed'out from each end portion of the ties into the path of the road way and rolls down from the road bed, and this action is more apparent with the joint ties where they usually are subjected to greater vibration than the intermediate ties, and where the joints are not properly tamped at all times. Hence to avoid and to practically eliminate such removal and disturbance of the road ballast, it will be perceived that the base portion of each metallic section of my improved metallic tie, from each outermost end portion to the outer end of the wooden blocks is bentdownwardly almost at a right angle with respect to the remainder of the base portion. forming a depending extension 12 at each end portion of each metallic section, said extensions projecting into the road bed and forming a V-shape opening through the'base of the tie at each end thereof to retain the ballast, while the depending extensions 12 form a wedgeshaped portion beneath the tie proper skid sidewise or endwise, and at the same time acting as a stay at each end of the tie to resist all pulling and pushing strain on the ends of the ties which usually cause a sliding movement or displacement of the ties.

It will be seen that the ties constructed in accordance with my invention are entirely filled with road ballast between the wooden blocks, and at the outerside of the saidblocks, the weight of said ballast serving to materially assist in retaining the ties in their normal position and in connection with the depending extensions 12, and the drainage opening 9' through which the ballast and road bed becomes wedged, the ties are firmly held and effectively prevented from shifting their position when subjected to the usual heavy strains caused by the rollin stock passing over the track rails supporte upon said ties.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A metallic railway tie of the character described, comprising two right angle steel sections, each section being formed with an upright member and an inwardly extended base portion, blocks of hard wood disposed between said sections near each end thereof, means for firmly securing said blocks to said sections, a concave recessed portion formed in each upright member near each end thereof, and a depending extension formed from the base portion and extending from the outer side of each of said blocks to the outer end of eachsection adapted to form a V-shape opening between said sections for the reception of road ballast, and to project into the road bed.

2. A metallic railway tie of the character described, comprising two right angle metal sections, each section being formed of an upright member and a laterally extended base portion, hard wood blocks disposed between said sections, means for rigidly securing said blocks to the sections, and 2. depending extension formed from the base portion and extending from the outer side of each of said blocks to the outer end of each section, said depending extensions being adapted to grip into the road bed to form an opening between said sections for the reception of road ballast, and forming a wedge shaped portion at each end of ltjhe tie. H I,.:

JACOB A. HYLE. 

